Good faith behavior of participants in civil proceedings under conditions of information technology use

Modern civil proceedings are characterized by dispositive principles – the right to choose the method of participation in a court hearing, traditional or remote, adversarial principles – the right to exercise procedural rights relating to the expression of opinions, arguments about one’s position and proving it in the process also in two ways and the principles of procedural equality and justice – equal opportunities and guarantees in the process of choosing the method of interaction between participants in civil proceedings and the court. Thus, the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation is actively developing norms regarding the development of information technologies, and the courts are practicing the use of information technologies by participants. The use of information technology makes us think about the controlling role of the court, which should extend to the digital form of administration of justice. Control in such an instance is procedural and technological in nature: over the behavior of participants using information technologies in the implementation of procedural rights and over digital sources and technological means.

The author comes to the conclusion about the role of behavioral reactions in the target setting – to use information technology, with the participation of persons in the process of considering civil cases, in good faith. Much attention is paid in science to the conscientious behavior of participants in civil proceedings. In civil proceedings, good faith was contrasted or interacted with the basic procedural principles of civil proceedings, which establish the rights of persons materially interested in the outcome of the case to be active, to exercise procedural rights, to prove their position, to have equal guarantees, etc. Self-interested action encourages participants to achieve their goals in the process at any cost. Consequently, the obligation of participants to act in good faith in the exercise of procedural rights comes to the fore. Such an obligation allows ascertaining the necessary influence of the court on the behavior of participants in civil proceedings, while information technologies will not be able to act as levers of unfair influence on the course of civil proceedings, the exercise of rights by bona fide persons, and the adoption of a lawful and justified decision by the court. The measures of influence may be non-property consequences in the form of a court’s refusal of a request to use information technology for unscrupulous participants.

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